Communications of the ACM
Innovation Is Overrated: A Provocation
Digital innovation is not working in the interest of the whole of society. It is time to radically rethink its purpose without…
From ACM Opinion
Quantum Computers Ready to Leap Out of the Lab in 2017
Quantum computing has long seemed like one of those technologies that are 20 years away, and always will be.
From ACM Opinion
Why frankenstein is Still Relevant, Almost 200 Years After It Was Published
Can I be totally honest? All I remember about Frankenstein is that Frankenstein is the doctor, not the monster. What happens in it?
From ACM Opinion
The Biggest Security Threats Coming in 2017
Whether it was a billion compromised Yahoo accounts or state-sponsored Russian hackers muscling in on the US election, this past year saw hacks of unprecedented...
From ACM Opinion
You Won't Believe What Nasa Hid from US This Year
As the federal agency at the forefront of exploring outer space, NASA winds up being the front door for all manner of alien conspiracies.
From ACM Opinion
Here's What a 'digital Miranda Warning' Might Look Like
Anyone who has ever watched an American crime movie or television show can practically recite the Miranda warning by heart, even if they don't know its official...
From ACM Opinion
Tech That Will Change Your Life in 2017
If you've seen in it in a movie, you might see it in reality in 2017.
From ACM Opinion
Best Books of 2016
Our editors' picks for the best books of 2016, and some they're eagerly anticipating.
From ACM Opinion
Nasa's Overlooked Duty to Look Inward
In 1942, not long after the attack on Pearl Harbor, the poet Archibald MacLeish wrote an essay called "The Image of Victory," in which he asked what winning the...
From ACM Opinion
2017 Sneak Peek: What the New Year Holds For Science
If the United States pulls back on its climate commitments as president-elect Donald Trump has promised, China, the world's biggest emitter of greenhouse gases,...
From ACM Opinion
Building Jarvis
My personal challenge for 2016 was to build a simple AI to run my home—like Jarvis in Iron Man.
From ACM Opinion
Dear Mr. Trump: To 'cyber' Better, Try the Blockchain
A massive distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack took several high-profile websites—Twitter, Amazon, the New York Times, even WIRED—offline in October.
From ACM Opinion
The Internet Is Broken. Starting from Scratch, Here's How I'd Fix It.
My big idea is that we have to fix the Internet.
From ACM Opinion
Astro Teller, Captain of Moonshots at X, on the Future of Ai, Robots, and Coffeemakers
Astro Teller has an unusual way of starting a new project: He tries to kill it.
From ACM Opinion
If We Made Contact with Aliens, How Would Religions React?
In 2014, Nasa awarded $1.1M to the Center for Theological Inquiry, an ecumenical research institute in New Jersey, to study “the societal implications of astrobiology”...
From ACM Opinion
Artificial Intelligence Has a Big Year Ahead
Get ready for AI to show up where you'd least expect it.
From ACM Opinion
Nasa Science Chief: 'i Have No Worries About the Resilience of This Country'
Solar physicist Thomas Zurbuchen became NASA's science chief in October, replacing astronaut John Grunsfeld. Just one month later, the US political system wentwhen...
From ACM Opinion
Where Will Nasa Go in the Age of Trump?
Two weeks after a presidential election that could have vaulted him to the head of NASA, John Grunsfeld reached across his peanut curry at a small restaurant on...
From ACM Opinion
Cybersecurity's Next Phase: cyber-Deterrence
Cyberattackers pose many threats to a wide range of targets. Russia, for example, was accused of hacking Democratic Party computers throughout the year, interfering...
From ACM Opinion